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Object Timeline
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Knife with Axe Shaped Blade and Dragon Knife
This is a knife. It was manufactured by C. V. Gibert and retailed by F. Nicoud. It is dated ca. 1890 and we acquired it in 1996. Its medium is silver. It is a part of the Product Design and Decorative Arts department.
text from "Implements of Eating" in Feeding Desire exhibition catalogue:
" Acidic fruits can discolor silver and leave an off taste, so dessert spoons (and fruit knives) were often gilded to avoid corrosion, a practice begun in the sixteenth century (fig. 14). As is objvious from such refinements in design, by the late nineteenth century, the use of cutlery reflected an abundant table even among the middle classes, in contrast to the early modern period in Europe, when for most people the issue had been subistence. Now the focus was pleasure, not sustenance, and showy displays of vast quantities of food gave way to an appreciate of quality and taste."
It is credited Museum purchase from Smithsonian Institution Collections Acquisition Program, Decorative Arts Association Acquisition, and Sarah Cooper-Hewitt Funds.
Its dimensions are
L x W x D: 18 × 4.6 × 4.4 cm (7 1/16 × 1 13/16 × 1 3/4 in.)
It has the following markings
On blade within engraved decoration, stamped: [1] C.V.G. below star inside lozenge (maker's mark for Charles Victor Gilbert) [2] illegible v-shaped mark On reverse of neck. stamped: [3] another possible illegible mark
Cite this object as
Knife with Axe Shaped Blade and Dragon Knife; Manufactured by Charles Victor Gibert (French); Retailed by F. Nicoud (French, active 1890); France; silver; L x W x D: 18 × 4.6 × 4.4 cm (7 1/16 × 1 13/16 × 1 3/4 in.); Museum purchase from Smithsonian Institution Collections Acquisition Program, Decorative Arts Association Acquisition, and Sarah Cooper-Hewitt Funds; 1996-56-48
This object was previously on display as a part of the exhibition Feeding Desire: Design and the Tools of the Table, 1500-2005.
